


A Team of Greats

by GizmoTrinket



Category: Captain America (Movies), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abandonment, Alpha Stephen Strange, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Team Dynamics, Break Up, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Iron Man, Comic Book Science, Gender Roles, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, IronStrange endgame, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Natasha Romanov is not a good bro, No Smut, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Not Beta Read, Omega Tony Stark, POV Alternating, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Unreliable Narrator, happy-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:41:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29286207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GizmoTrinket/pseuds/GizmoTrinket
Summary: It's good that Tony and Steve are bonded. Tony needs someone to reign him in, Steve needs support. It's for the best. Because the Avengerscan'tbreak up. They're each a hero on their own. But they're stronger together.
Relationships: (breakup), Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 88
Kudos: 471





	A Team of Greats

**Author's Note:**

> Rated M for adult themes. Due to the POV order, Steve gets a raw deal. If I decide to make this into a series, I will address this. Critical reading skills should be applied. If you have any concerns about the tags or themes please skip this one. 
> 
> I'm trying to post one fic a month, and for a belated birthday present, I gift myself salt. :D

“Oh my god,” James said as he slapped his hand over his nose and mouth.

“Rhoooodey, c’mere. I don’t feel good. Need you,” fifteen-year-old Tony Stark begged from his bed.

James slammed their dorm room door shut and sat outside it. He wouldn’t let Tony out, and he got into multiple fights when he refused to let people in.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Stark were too busy to come. But Jarvis, their beta butler, made it after “only” two days. He brought Tony drinks and food and allowed Tony to cuddle him and helped Rhodey keep people away.

MIT considered kicking Tony out, omegas weren’t allowed in, after all. But Tony had inadvertently proved that omegas were just as smart as alphas and betas (smarter, actually. But no one would admit that one, and, in all fairness, Tony was a special case).

Tony ignored the rights movement he’d stirred up and continued living as if he were an alpha.

Rhodey knew the little brat would be force-bonded or murdered without him. Tony was his little brother, and _no one_ messed with his family. Thankfully, Tony got a bodyguard and Rhodey was free to go into the Air Force like he’d always wanted.

Still, when he had a chance to be the Stark Industries official liaison, he took it. It was nice to have the time to spend with his friend and still be able to protect him.

He hadn’t thought that he’d be pulling those strings to search for Tony out in the desert, but he did. Rhodey knew the military thought Tony had been bonded (if he still lived) but Rhodey knew better. Tony had tried to bond twice before and it never took. He suspected Howard had messed with him but knew better than to say that.

When he finally wrapped his arms around his brother once more he took in a deep breath. There was no bond, not even an attempt at a bite. His head swam with glee. He was vindicated. The military would probably give him a promotion for bringing Tony back to them.

Rhodey wouldn’t mind if they didn’t, though. He was just glad Tony was ok.

***

“You should have him bonded; I wouldn’t mind taking him off your hands. He’d be happy inventing things and I could run the business.”

Howard laughed at Obadiah and said, “This isn’t the old days. If you wanted me to sell him to you, you should have tried before all those laws got passed. Besides, Tony is too headstrong to be bonded at all.”

“He’s unruly! Our reputation is going to be tarnished unless you get him under control!”

“Times are changing,” Howard said. “We’ve always been forward-thinking. We can scoop up all the smart omegas before everyone else. _And_ we can get all those bonuses from the government. It’s good business all around.”

“Don’t you care about propriety? Your boy is—”

“I honestly don’t,” Howard interrupted him. “I raised him as an alpha and it’s better if he continues on that way. If he were a simpering omega like you want, I’d disown him. He’s a Stark man, I won’t have you trying to change that.” Howard’s eyes flashed dangerously.

Obadiah bowed his head at Howard’s display of dominance.

Howard nodded. He made a mental note to keep Tony in line. Stark men were made of Iron, no matter their second gender. Any hint of weakness and his company would be ruined. It was far too late to have another child.

***

Agent Coulson ignored Stark’s flat look.

“We have a chemical that will help. If you bond, we can guarantee that you’ll live,” Coulson said.

“Uh, huh.” Stark wasn’t convinced. 

Coulson knew that taking SHIELD up on the offer would come with all sorts of strings attached. And that it would require a full bond. Coulson wasn’t sure why Fury had insisted he ask. It was never going to happen.

“But what kind of life would it be?” There was a hopelessness in Stark’s voice.

“We know you don’t want to die, and we know you’re out of options,” Coulson said. He didn’t particularly like Stark, but he didn’t want him to die.

Tony snorted. 

“I’d rather die than live life as a mindless minion. Thanks for the offer though.” Tony waved his hand. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Coulson learned later that Fury and Romanoff came and offered another option in the form of Stark the elder’s research that SHIELD had “procured;” he felt like he should have been surprised, but he wasn’t. Relieved, yes. Irritated, very much so. Coulson believed they’d made a mistake in their approach.

But that wasn’t his problem. (He was sure Fury would make it his later, though.)

***

“Howard has a son?” Steve asked. He didn’t believe it! It wasn’t the same as having Howard himself, but sure would be nice to have someone he could talk to around. Surely Howard told his son all the stories, the real ones, not the weird ones that had been filtered or twisted and made him into some sort of god.

One of the SHIELD agents snorted.

“It’s all in there,” Agent Coulson said.

Steve felt his brow furrow the more he read. Antony Edward Stark was an _omega_. And that was fine! Except… he acted like an alpha. The worst sort of alpha. He’d even said during an interview he ‘was raised as an alpha and saw no need to change’. But _real_ alphas didn’t sleep around and party. They were responsible. They were leaders by example. Steve took pride in protecting those who needed it. He didn’t care if they were part of his pack or not. He was an alpha, and they were the guardians of the weak and the helpless.

He was sure he’d be this way even if he weren’t an alpha. Being good wasn’t limited to gender or secondary gender. But, seeing someone make a mockery of everything he believed in—stereotyping his gender in the worst way—made him livid.

Howard had been a little bit of a womanizer, but _nothing_ like his son. Howard liked his parties, but they never ended in orgies. Howard had been fond of the drink, but he’d never lost control.

Steve felt his lip curl.

“Don’t worry too much about Iron Man, he’s a SHIELD consultant so you won’t have to see him all that often.”

 _“He’s_ the hero?!” Steve felt himself exclaim. He blushed at his reaction. He’d seen a few videos of Iron Man in action. He’d really appreciated how he saved that town in the Middle East. If Steve’d had weapons like that in the war Hydra would have been toast. (And he’d never had to have gotten on that plane like that. Because he would have had Bucky if he could have shot something so accurate— _Stop it._ He needed to be present now, he had to accept this. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t planned on waking up. He had and now he had to deal with it.)

Still, Steve knew all about being a public icon. There were rules! Children would emulate you. It wasn’t as bad when he was just making weapons for the military. But being a hero and still acting like that? It was unconscionable.

Steve was about to ask what on Earth was wrong with Howard’s kid, but SHIELD had covered that, too. Narcissistic (though it said textbook narcissism, whatever that was), compulsive and self-destructive.

Being smart did not make someone a hero.

SHIELD agreed. Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, not recommended.

This had happened sometimes in Steve’s time, too. If omegas were denied opportunities to give into that side of their nature, they were unbalanced. Steve knew better than to say anything about that, though. People were touchy about that stuff now. Even him expressing joy that black people held offices now was met with scowls.

Besides, it probably wasn’t even the omega thing. Sometimes a kid was just spoiled. He shouldn’t make excuses for a bad egg.

“We’re only calling him in because of the cube,” Agent Coulson said.

Steve nodded. He closed the folder and looked at the next one. Better to put Howard’s son out of his mind. 

Of course, the fact that he was working with him made that impossible. Every second he had to stand near the man was torture.

The omega was _arrogant_. Steve knew if he were an alpha people would have called him out on it. He was showy and not a team player. He was everything he hated in a soldier. Unprofessional to an extreme degree.

“He’s rich,” Agent Romanoff said with a shrug when Steve asked about it.

Steve’s skin crawled. “So, he thinks he can do whatever he wants.”

She tilted her head. “Sort of. He’s allowed to do things he wouldn’t allow in his company. He tried to hit on me when I was undercover as his PA. Anyone else who pulled a stunt like that would have been fired on the spot for harassment.”

“He hit you?”

“Hit on,” she explained. “He flirts.”

“Harassment?”

“You’re not allowed to flirt at work, it’s unprofessional. Especially if you’re in charge of the employee.” 

“Did you say anything?” Steve said.

“No, that was my angle in. It was an easy way to get close to him,” she said. As if it were a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Why did SHIELD make her do that?

“Don’t say anything about it, it’s one of those omega rights things people celebrate him for.”

Steve shook his head. Nothing had changed. Women were still treated like sex objects in the workplace but instead of standing against it like Peggy had, women saw it as part of the job. People still treated the less fortunate like dirt and spent their money on themselves instead of helping. Anyone at the top could do whatever they wanted. Stark was just the same and yet was celebrated.

 _I hate the future,_ Steve thought bitterly.

He didn’t have long to dwell on it, though. Norse gods, an invasion by aliens, and death and destruction kept him plenty occupied.

“Shawarma?” Stark asked from the ruined pavement. Sirens were blaring and nothing within sight had escaped unscathed. In fact, Stark was sporting some bruises and bleeding cuts. 

Steve didn’t really want to go eat. They had a lot they needed to get done. But he also knew the omega had just almost died. Omegas needed bonding. They needed to feel safe. And honestly? Steve needed to know Stark was safe too.

Stark had just saved New York. Maybe he wasn’t all that bad.

***

Natasha wasn’t surprised when SHIELD offered to make Stark an Avenger. Being a consultant gave him too much freedom. She _was_ surprised that Stark built them all a place in his tower. She was even more surprised that Steve took Stark up on living there.

She had expected Bruce to. Bruce knew the safest place from SHIELD and the government was with the well-connected billionaire. However, she was sure Steve hated Stark. She’d done as much as she could to drive a wedge between them. She knew SHIELD wanted Stark under their thumb and Steve being dismissive about the billionaire’s heroism would only help.

Stark craved acceptance more than anything.

To her surprise, SHIELD was excited about this new development. Fury told her and Clint to move in too and “help foster their relationship.”

Steve took it upon himself to coddle Tony. Tony was the team omega and Steve, the team alpha.

She was exempt from all the omega bs since she’d had her bonding glands removed and her reproductive system destroyed. She didn’t get heats, she couldn't bond, but she still smelled slightly of omega. Not enough to give away her emotions, just enough for people to dismiss her as a threat.

Stark had made himself clear ever since his first heat, a completely unexpected, rather public event, he had no intention of bonding.

She understood that. As much as she has always been upset that her ability to have children was taken away from her, she was very glad that she couldn’t bond.

Omegas were totally screwed over by biology. If an omega died then their bonded alpha died too, which was a major deterrent for alphas. However, if the bond was complete on both sides, the alpha could order the omega to stay at home and stay safe. Any command the alpha gave, the omega had to obey. Most bonds were one-sided. Which was still bad for omegas, too. Because if the alpha had a one-sided bond with an omega and rejected it, the omega would die if they didn’t find a new partner.

Tony Stark refusing to bond was the best thing ever to happen to omegas. His late puberty, acceptance to MIT, and particular brand of dismissive selfishness incited a cultural revolution he somehow didn’t seem to care about. Bonding was a bad deal for him, so he wasn’t going to do it. It wasn’t his problem if people politicized his decision.

Contrary to some of her coworkers' beliefs, Natasha didn’t hate Tony. She kind of liked him. Respected him, even. She was more aware than most that the world operated in shades of gray. Tony’s life was a giant middle finger to _everyone_. 

He had existed in a self-centered bubble. His fear of disappointing the only familial figure he had left (Stane) clashed with his need to rebel and had resulted in a life devoid of meaning. Sure, he did some good things, but nothing near what he could do. After Afghanistan, he tried to be the hero he felt he should be.

But he was dying. And he wasn’t a paragon. It wasn’t who he was. Trying to be the “good person” was, A) impossible, but mostly B) _impossible_. Every choice you made as a public figure was scrutinized and, often, purposefully misinterpreted. Everyone had skeletons in the closet. The longer they’d been in public the more they had. Cleaning your life up didn’t make those go away. Many people didn’t believe in change. 

Even, beyond the court of public opinion, every choice had consequences. Many of them were unintended. 

Tony wanted to solve the energy crisis. But solar required mining (bad for the environment), killed birds, and was difficult to maintain. So, he focused on wind. But that was killing birds too. Plus, the mining, and the travel from fabrication to the site, and the landfill space from the used blades… and... and… and… 

She’d had to hear more than a few rants when she’d been working for him. 

Her job now was to keep him under SHIELD’s thumb. He was too dangerous to be left alone. And she agreed with that assessment. Even though he wasn’t dying anymore, he was too chaotic, too powerful, and too… good.

She’d seen firsthand how good can get warped and become evil. People tried to prevent wars thus caused them. People wanted to ensure security and created fascism. People wanted to protect their own and so committed genocide.

Tony could wipe out _the entire world_.

So, if SHIELD wanted Tony Stark bonded to Steven Grant Rogers (a man they’d ensured control over by careful grooming), then that’s what she’d make happen.

The phrase _“for the greater good”_ passed through her mind and, like always, she dismissed it.

***

“You sure about this?” Clint asked. He knew Steve and Tony were dating. He thought they were kind of cute. They were both unreasonably stubborn but somehow it worked. The Avengers were a family.

Without Tony, they would have had to burn SHIELD to the ground completely. And without Steve, they wouldn’t have even noticed that SHIELD had become a HYDRA organization.

The SHIELDRA takedown had proven how much the two needed each other. And Clint agreed with Nat that without either of them The Avengers were done.

Still, what Natasha was asking him to do felt wrong.

“If they don’t bond, Steve will leave. You can see that he’s getting irritated by the lack of commitment. And everyone knows Tony has no interest in that. He’s not going to change his mind,” she said.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Clint said. The argument felt weak even to him.

“Ultron wouldn’t’ve happened if Steve had been able to command Tony,” she said.

“Wanda would have never been allowed on the team, though. Steve wouldn’t want to deal with Tony’s discomfort. Plus, we wouldn’t have Vision.” Clint loved Wanda like a daughter, but he knew she hadn’t actually changed. She was just looking out for herself. Which was fine. She’d lacked a mentor. People were capable of change. Clint saw the good in her that just needed to be nurtured.

Tony was so uncomfortable around her currently that he was talking about taking a step back from The Avengers and moving out.

Natasha reminded him of this fact and added, “There’s no other way. Steve and Tony have to be together. And with the bond, Steve will be able to soothe Tony.”

Clint loved Nat, but he knew she underestimated the fear Wanda created. Her nightmare was based on reality. Something in the past that affected her future, but that she couldn’t change. However, Tony’s created Ultron. He could see how messed up Tony was over it. Hell, Wanda’s vision to Bruce caused him to live out his worst nightmare and flee for everyone’s protection. No one could find him.

Even if Tony was over what she’d done to him, he couldn’t forgive her for hurting his friend like that. Bruce was messed up about the Hulk, and Tony was nothing if not loyal to those he saw as pack.

“You don’t have to do it. I’m sure whoever we gather next will have Tony’s political clout; his money and resources; his intelligence; and his ability to fix, build and maintain our equipment,” she said with false wistfulness. She dropped the act and with a raised eyebrow said, “At least we know he won’t kick us out.” 

Clint ground his teeth. He really should go back to his family instead of hanging out here. He was making too many compromises. What did it say about the state of The Avengers that he’d felt more comfortable with his HYDRA missions than those he was going on now?

Even before Ultron, Steve wasn’t present like he should be. It felt like he had an ulterior motive to the things he was doing. The places he was going didn’t require The Avengers. The missions could be handled by local law enforcement more effectively. When Clint confronted him about it, Steve said didn’t want “him” catching on.

Clint was pretty sure Steve wasn’t talking about whatever HYDRA operative they were supposed to be hunting. He had a sinking feeling that the mystery man was Tony.

“Are you _sure?”_ Clint asked. He wasn’t happy with Tony right now; he didn’t like how snippy he was and how his scent was always sour, but he didn’t want him hurt. He’d seen omegas that hadn’t accepted the bond. It was still created, but it wasn’t quite right. He was pretty sure Tony loved Steve, but what if he was wrong? And what if whatever Steve was hiding affected their relationship?

“I wouldn’t have you do it if I wasn’t,” Natasha said with conviction.

Clint smiled at her confidence. If he couldn’t trust Nat, he couldn’t trust anyone.

“Alright, hit me up when you’re on the way back from your mission and I’ll do it. One tablet, right? And is coffee fine? I don’t need to worry about the temperature or caffeine or anything, right?”

***

Being Captain America’s omega wasn’t easy. There were expectations to being the mate of a national icon from the forties. 

And Tony Stark met exactly zero of them.

The only way to meet the standards the public demanded was to be completely unknown. And even then, people would speculate about whether or not she—because yeah, that was a thing—was doing her “job” properly.

Tony wasn’t exactly known for staying _out_ of the spotlight. His pre-Iron Man exploits were internet infamy. And everyone who was anyone had at least one sex tape from around 2012 (willing or not).

So, Tony was having a rough go of it. Not that of those “requirements” mattered because the only one who got a say in Steve Rogers’s omega was Steve Rogers. But that didn’t stop the press and public from trying to enforce what they thought was best.

Tony and Steve had tried to keep their bonding a secret, but everyone had a camera nowadays and Steve’s bonding bite was higher than Tony would have preferred a bonding bite to be.

If he’d ever thought of getting a bonding bite.

Which he hadn’t.

That added another level to this whole thing that only he had to deal with. Because the only ones who knew that The Avengers Leaders were bonded by accident were Tony and Steve themselves. 

As far as the rest of The Avengers were concerned, Tony and Steve just moved up their bonding due to Tony’s unexpected heat.

If Steve were anyone else, Tony would have filed the paperwork to have the bonding nullified. Tony had been explicitly clear that he didn’t want a bonding. 

Marriage, he could do. If he really loved the other person, he had no problem pledging himself to them for the rest of his life. (Honestly, it was more reliant if they really loved him, because that was less likely.) It wasn’t even a “divorce is easy” thing. He was secretly a romantic. Marriage was forever.

But bonding was something entirely different.

Steve could find someone else and break the bond with a thought. Tony would _have_ to find someone else to take over. Either a more compatible alpha (ha!) or someone else he’d emotionally accept (which, with his trust issues was basically impossible—especially now).

If Tony had gone to the hospital after his heat and filled out the forms, they could have given him chemicals to halt the bonding process or broken the bond before it settled.

But, if Tony did that, Steve would be put on a list. There was no way that Tony would press charges, of course, but The Alpha Offender Registry was public. That was something he couldn’t do. The PR would be a nightmare and Tony was already on shaky ground with the others. He’d never been accepted by the group, not really. 

Tony was in a perpetual state of mild panic. Their relationship was at its lowest point ever. And Steve seemed to think this bond was a good thing for them. He refused to apologize and didn’t feel guilty about it at all! He felt like the bond was his right! 

And Tony was doing everything he could not to rock the boat, because Steve had only started getting all self-righteous _after_ Tony’s window for nullifying the bond had passed.

What with the Ultron disaster, Tony was more powerless than ever. His public opinion was polling at its lowest since he became Iron Man. (Before Iron Man, they didn’t have polls like that. Not for people like him. But he liked to think that people would hate drugged, alcoholic, party-boy him more.) 

“I’m going out,” Steve announced as he put his phone in his pocket.

“Where are you headed?” Tony asked.

Steve gave him a look like he was offended that Tony would even ask. “Little info gathering trip, won’t take long. Three days, max.”

“You want company?” Tony offered. Steve had been gone more than he’d been around since their bonding.

Tony suspected it was why he felt so awful all the time. Usually when a couple bonds, they hole up for a month or two or longer to solidify it. But as soon as Tony could handle his heat without Steve, when he could get by with a dildo, Steve had bailed.

At the time, Tony hadn’t minded. He was furious at Steve for biting him. 

But now, he was missing the support. He felt empty. He knew there was supposed to be a spot that Steve occupied in his mind or heart or whatever that brought Tony comfort. But that space was empty and… oozing.

Tony was worried it was going to hemorrhage soon.

“No!” Steve said, eyes wide. 

Tony felt a throb. What sort of omega couldn’t convince their alpha to spend time with them? That invoked _that_ response in their alpha?

“I mean,” Steve put his hand on the back of his head like he was just an awkward kid from Brooklyn and not a grown man, bonded alpha and leader of The Avengers. “You’re a little too public is all. People recognize you.”

“You going to take Nat? Or Clint?” Tony asked. There was a fear that Steve was seeing someone else on the side. It was crazy, Tony knew that. Captain America, having an affair? Never.

~~Except, of course, with Tony as his omega. He’d be crazy _not_ to.~~

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Steve said absently.

Tony wasn’t sure Steve was even listening.

“Don’t want to get in trouble without backup,” Tony said.

“Yeah, always got to have a plan B,” Steve agreed.

He slung a full duffle bag over his shoulder. Tony wondered what was in it. It didn’t look like it was filled with spy equipment. It looked like he only had a few changes of clothes in there.

“See you later,” Steve said with a wave over his shoulder.

Tony waited for him to turn back around. To _look_ at him when he headed out. For him to turn off to grab Nat. For a sign that he wasn’t doing what Tony feared he was.

Steve paused outside the jet to fix his hair in the reflection off the window. He hopped in with a skip in his step and shut the door without looking at the compound at all.

“FRIDAY, is Natasha in the compound?” Tony asked.

“Ms. Romanoff is currently with Miss Maximoff. They’re shopping downtown.”

“Clint?” Tony asked.

“Mr. Barton is currently with his family,” FRIDAY said. There was a sort of hopelessness in her voice.

“Did Steve file a flight plan?” 

“No, and he has initiated stealth mode. I am unable to track him without his permission.”

“Huh,” Tony said. He thought he’d feel worse. But he just felt empty. It was sort of a relief.

_“Always got to have a plan B.”_

What was his plan if Steve broke their bond?

“FRI, it’s time to do some research.”

***

Being on the personal law team of Tony Stark wasn’t easy. They were often run ragged with stop and desist orders, paternity lawsuits (why did people file those? He was an omega. If he was a parent, they’d be filing paternity papers against someone else!), copyright violations, intellectual property suits… the list of work was endless. 

You had to be a team player. Tony Stark’s personal lawyers had to work with Stark Industries lawyers, The Maria Stark Foundation lawyers, The Avengers lawyers, each team of accountants, the various PR groups for each, politicians and their aides, city workers, charity groups, and basically everyone else.

It was an exceedingly difficult and demanding job few people could do. You had to be tough as nails and twice as smart.

Jennifer hated the job, honestly. She’d rather be on one of the other teams. The Avengers dealt with less random time-wasting bs and they were perpetually buried under civil suits from people who thought the Avengers _should_ have shown up to their house fire in Indiana and therefore they deserved a payout. 

“Eleven million. This lady claims that _seeing the team on tv_ causes her emotional distress because she was in the New York attack and it caused her PTSD,” Anne said with disgust.

“Well, PTSD can be—” 

“—She wasn’t even in New York! She was in Florida. ‘But it could happen anywhere!’” Anne continued, cutting Jennifer off.

“Yikes.” Jennifer knew the pain of frivolous lawsuits. They were more common than you’d think because Mr. Stark wouldn’t counter-sue for wasting their time. So much money and time (both the courts and theirs) was gone because Mr. Stark thought that… Well, she didn’t know what Mr. Stark was thinking half the time, honestly. 

“The Maria Stark Foundation all of a sudden wants to set up a mental health facility in her town,” Anne said with a depressed sigh.

“Mr. Stark loves rewarding crazy,” Jennifer said with sympathy. 

“Well, more mental health help is clearly needed there,” Mr. Stark said.

Jennifer and Anne jumped. Anne managed to recover her serenity quickly, but Jennifer’s face was red in shame. This was why you weren’t supposed to gossip!

“Yes, if only there were a procedure to go through to request additional help; instead of rewarding people who waste our time and the money that could go to helping other people by allowing them to jump the line,” Anne said wryly.

Mr. Stark frowned. 

“Point,” he admitted after a moment. He shook himself a bit before saying, “That’s not why I’m here, though. I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch, ladies, but I need some help that involves both of your teams.”

“Is this about the accords?” Jennifer asked.

“It’s related.”

Jennifer took the last bite of her sandwich and stood. 

“Perfect timing, we were just waiting on the check,” Anne said.

“That’s already been taken care of,” Mr. Stark said with a dismissive wave. “Let’s head to your office?” The last word tilted up in a question, his gaze locked on Anne.

Anne nodded. She finished her water and Jennifer watched her follow Mr. Stark up to the offices. She tried not to follow too far behind, but she didn’t really want to go. She had a bad feeling about this. 

“What’s this about?” Anne asked once they were all in her office.

“I need to adjust my will,” Mr. Stark said.

Both Jennifer and Anne were shocked. Sure, Mr. Stark adjusted his will relatively often, but he also had major life-changing circumstances happen on a relatively regular basis. 

“May I ask why?” Jennifer wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. But she was sure it would be helpful.

Mr. Stark frowned before plopping down in a chair. He put his feet up on Anne’s desk and said, “Pretty sure I’m a dead man walking. Too much is coming, and I can’t rely on my mate to stand by me in it.”

“The Accords,” Jennifer concluded, an empty feeling settling in her chest. Mr. Stark had been calling mass meetings about them for months now. He was doing everything he could to protect the Iron Man suit. At first, they’d just been talking about how to protect the team and any other hero-types that were out there. But Miss Maximoff’s costly mistake in Lagos had caused the international community to panic. As the face of The Avengers (his teammates—including his _mate!—_ refused to do press conferences), Mr. Stark was facing the brunt of the ire. After all, few accepted an omega taking responsibility for their own actions, never mind an entire team’s. And yet, he was the only one anyone ever saw.

Anne smacked Mr. Stark’s shoes with a file.

Mr. Stark dropped his feet to the ground without complaint. He sat up straight and dropped his mask of levity. 

“Has anyone been able to set up a meeting with any of The Avengers about them?” he asked.

Jennifer and Anne shook their heads. Plan A _required_ Captain Rogers’s support. It was by far the best plan. Plan B assumed Captain Rogers didn’t sign but stood by Mr. Stark’s side as amendments were made. They had so many plans they had gone through all the letters and had started numbered plans.

The plans Mr. Stark was making recently focused on an Avengers split. He claimed they were reserved for the “worst case.” That he didn’t believe they’d ever amount to anything.

She had a sinking feeling those were the most likely.

“Not to my knowledge. Madrox would have said something,” Anne said.

“He was complaining to me about it earlier today. The few times they’ve ever answered their phones they said to make you deal with it,” Jennifer said as she sat in the other chair in front of Anne’s desk.

Mr. Stark took out his phone and Jennifer heard the sound of a text sent. 

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Mr. Stark said as he put his phone away. “But it’s fine. Probably better for what I’ve got to do.”

“What exactly do you want us to do for your will, Mr. Stark?” Anne said.

“I need you to go through every single law that allows me to leave my assets to the Maria Stark Foundation,” he responded. 

He turned to Jennifer and said, “I need you to ensure that anything related to the Iron Man armor goes to Colonel Rhodes. I don’t want the government near it. If it can’t to go him as a private citizen, I want it destroyed. I need it airtight. If you have a smidgen of doubt, I need it wiped from the face of the Earth. Even the War Machine Armor, if it comes to that.”

“Iron Patriot,” Jennifer corrected, now in lawyer mode. She pulled out her phone and started making notes.

Mr. Stark scowled at the name. “War Machine,” he pressed mulishly.

Jennifer gave him a flat look that he waved off.

“You’re asking for a lot,” Anne said hesitantly. “Keeping everything from your mate hasn’t been done.”

“Hence why it’s going to charity. Who can argue with that?”

“Society,” Anne said dryly. 

“Everyone,” Jennifer said at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mr. Stark said. “However, people aren’t comfortable with the omega’s mate taking the omega’s assets when the alpha breaks the bond.”

It was like the temperature in the room dropped. _So, that’s what was happening._ Jennifer felt like she couldn’t breathe. She’d never dreamed that something like this could have happened. 

“A quick search showed me that there are a few precedents for family heirlooms and personal items from the omega to go back to their family. I don’t think there’s much about it because few omegas have any money. Usually, the family has a living expense account set up and omegas have non-omega siblings to take any valuable assets. Like MIT, this is an unprecedented situation. No omega has owned the majority stake in a company—I want that to go to Pepper, by the way—or has had billions in assets before the bonding.”

“Yes,” Jennifer agreed as she made notes. “But there’s usually a pre-bonding contract or a prenup or a surprise heat hastily signed napkin and an agreement about how any special assets would be divided if the union doesn’t produce children.”

“Why wasn’t there one?” Anne asked boldly.

Mr. Stark froze.

Jennifer hated to pour salt in the wound by pressing but it _would_ be asked if the time came and she needed to have an answer. “Mr. Stark?”

“Unexpected heat. The bond wasn’t planned. You can check with the bonding registry; it wasn’t registered by me. If it was registered at all, I suspect it was by a SHIELD agent.”

Jennifer frowned and looked at her boss. “You suspect—”

“It’s not important,” Mr. Stark said. “In the worst-case FRIDAY will automatically email you any information that could help.”

“Why didn’t you file a forced bonding?!” Anne demanded. She was breathing through her teeth and her eyes briefly flashed alpha red.

Mr. Stark gave her a flat look over his sunglasses. “Let’s say Mr. America took advantage of me. How do you think that would play out? In the real world, not the world everyone thinks I created by acting like an asshole.”

Anne’s face twisted in heartbreak and bleak understanding.

“Right now, all my assets go to my mate. After him, if you were to happen to dispute the will, they’d…” he led.

“...be divided between The Avengers and the Maria Stark Foundation,” Jennifer finished. She felt rather sick. “You set that up after the SHIELDRA fiasco. You wanted to ensure they could stay independent.” 

“Don’t worry, Mr. Stark. I’ll make sure none of those assholes get a cent,” Anne said with righteous anger and conviction.

Mr. Stark opened his mouth and for a second Jennifer was sure he was about to defend his teammates. Thankfully, he seemed to think better of it and after a moment said, “I want this to stay in this room. I can trust both of you, but the more people that we include, the more risk there is. And it might not become anything. It might not _be_ anything. But I need to cover all my bases.”

Jennifer nodded solemnly and saw Anne do the same.

Mr. Stark pushed his sunglasses up and whirled out, closing the door gently behind him. To any observer, it looked like he had everything in his life completely under control. 

Jennifer looked to Anne and saw her tight expression reflected on her friend’s face. 

Anne’s brow furrowed and her mouth pursed in a firm line. “This is impossible,” she said after a moment.

Jennifer sighed. “Yes, and I suspect we don’t have a lot of time. We should start.”

Anne swallowed thickly before straightening her shoulders and turning to her computer. 

Her determination fired Jennifer up. Seeing Anne so intense gave Jennifer butterflies in her stomach. She ruthlessly killed them. Now was not the time.

Anne glanced up at her to ask if she needed to plug in her laptop and the stupid little bugs took flight again.

***

**The lawyer is trying to reach you. Please answer your calls.**

Wanda glared at the Iron Man icon and the message next to it in the group text.

**What do they want?**

She texted back.

“Do you see this?” Wanda demanded, holding out her phone.

Natasha took a sip of her soda and nodded. “Last time I took one of those calls they wanted me to come in and approve my line of merchandise. One of them claimed they needed my measurements and offered to take them in the back room. Do yourself a favor and send their number to voicemail.”

Wanda frowned. “But…”

“Relax, if it were about you, he would have sent it to you instead of the group.”

Wanda nodded. That made sense. Plus, if it were important, Steve would tell them. Tony valued things like popularity conferences and parties where people insulted you and you put up with it for their money. As if he didn’t have enough money without hosting those.

“Steve will let us know if it’s anything important,” Natasha said, echoing Wanda’s thoughts. 

Her confidence allowed Wanda to relax. Tony was Steve’s omega, there were no secrets between them. And Steve always looked out for them.

They hit up a little vintage style boutique before heading home. Wanda watched the city outside her window. She watched as the people wearing suits thinned and the people wearing hoodies increased. Soon, they were in her favorite part of town. Everything was so vibrant here. She loved it; it was more comfortable to her than the plasticky, fake, stiffness of where they’d been.

The driver turned, and soon the sidewalks were lost amongst the cars. 

Wanda pulled out her phone. She had blocked the news of anything Avengers related after her accident in Lagos. It was upsetting to see so many people angry at them and afraid of her. The others said those people were internet trolls and she shouldn’t “feed” them by showing that she knew, or even cared what they said about her. 

Politics was another topic she avoided. The PR people had briefed her that she wasn’t allowed to discuss it and dozens of other things. No politics, religion, civil rights, anything to do for money unless it was to mention one of their approved charities… She basically wasn’t allowed to speak at all.

She had a few social media accounts under fake names that she used to look at the latest fashions, to follow her favorite bands and to keep up on celebrity gossip, and, of course, to look at pictures of cute baby animals. 

Before she knew it, they were home. She’d sent Vision dozens of recipes she thought he’d like to try (he wasn’t a good cook, but he seemed happier when he was in the kitchen and she wanted to encourage that). Natasha got some photos of shoes and they’d texted back and forth from inside the car about what shops to go to next time. Wanda had found a very funny meme featuring a hawk to send to Clint. There was a similar one with an eagle, but she never sent texts to Steve. He’d been going on more and more unannounced solo missions recently and she didn’t want to put him in danger in case he forgot to turn off his ringtone. (Well, that, and the fact that he’d never responded to any of her texts.)

“Should we do a movie tonight?” Wanda asked the others after she’d put all her purchases away.

“Clint is with his family,” Natasha said.

“That just means that we don’t have to watch another one of those stupid action movies,” Wanda said. 

Natasha looked at her from the side of her eye.

Wanda continued quickly. The fastest way to spend her days alone was to drive her friend off. And the fastest way to do that was to insult Clint. “We can still watch a movie with just us. Unless everyone already has plans?”

“I have no plans,” Vision said.

“Steve has run off again, so I don’t have anything to do,” Sam said.

“Do you know where he went?” Natasha asked. There was an undercurrent to her voice that made Wanda uneasy.

Sam shrugged. “He hasn’t told me anything about anything recently.”

Natasha hummed.

Wanda watched her closely. Her face clouded but whatever had put her off she was able to dismiss quickly.

“A movie sounds fun,” Natasha said.

“Whose turn is it to pick?” Wanda asked.

As soon as the question was out of her mouth, she felt stupid. A heavy silence fell. They all knew it was Tony’s turn. They hadn’t invited him to any of the movie nights since Steve and he had bonded. It was her understanding that he was pretty spotty about showing up to them before. He was busy, and they’d all agreed that their equipment and any repairs to the Iron Man armor were more important. 

She wasn’t all that upset that he never came. She wasn’t fond of him and sitting with him was stressful. Especially if they were watching any sort of war movie. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek were his favorites. Most of the movies he enjoyed had some sort of military aspect.

“We should at least try to ask him,” Sam said. “He is Steve’s mate. Steve would probably feel better about how much he left him alone if we proved that we would protect his omega.”

“Send him a text, he’ll probably be busy, but it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Vision said.

Natasha announced that she’d text Tony and strolled out of the kitchen.

**Movie tonight?**

Wanda’s phone pinged on the group text that Stark had sent out earlier.

**I can make it around 7. Group dinner?**

The response came much more quickly than she’d expected. Based on the other's faces they thought so too.

**Bring the good pizza and I’ll come.**

Clint’s icon reminded Wanda of the symbol in the Hunger Games. 

**Will do. What does everyone want?**

**The usual.**

**Same.**

**Same.**

**Same.**

**Ditto.**

Little dots appeared and disappeared repeatedly before going away completely. Wanda figured Stark got distracted. She and Nat had gone out because he was supposed to be home all day today, but it wasn’t unusual for him to get called away to his company.

With Steve gone he must have decided it was a good time to get work done.

She put her phone away and dug around in the fridge for a snack. Maybe she could start on that sitcom all of her internet friends were raving about. They had a few hours before seven.

The others must have had the same idea because before long they were all settled around the television. When Natasha came in, she brought popcorn.

Instead of the sitcom, they ended up watching some singing competition. They all had a secret weakness for reality tv.

Clint joined them and they decided to use the interruption to take a break and refill the popcorn buckets.

The pizzas were on the table in the kitchen, but Stark was absent. They descended on them.

She took the box of plain cheese. Clint grabbed the meat lovers with mushrooms. Natasha scooped up the chicken specialty. Sam found the veggie and took it to the tv room. Vision grabbed the pepperoni.

Wanda tried to hide her surprise that he knew their order when he was never around.

“Anyone see where Tony went?” Clint asked, his mouth full of pizza. 

“Must be in the bathroom,” Sam said.

“Hey! Who took my veggie?” Stark’s voice practically echoed with his shout.

“Sam always gets veggie,” Natasha yelled back.

“Oh,” Stark said as he entered with the last box. He was frowning and seemed a little despondent. But he shook it off quickly enough. 

When asked for his movie choice, Stark said, “Watch whatever, you guys were probably in a marathon of something before I interrupted.”

That made Natasha raise an eyebrow. “You usually have some opinion about what we watch,” she said.

Stark shrugged.

Sam gave him a slice of the veggie but didn’t take any of the supreme. Sam had recently gone vegetarian and they hadn’t had that pizza since. The mistake made Wanda feel better. Stark _wasn’t_ spying on them; the store had just remembered their favorites.

“Gotta keep that girlish figure to keep Cap’s attention, huh?” Clint said with a laugh.

Stark laughed too but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Clint took it as confirmation that Stark wasn’t interested in the supreme and soon enough that was gone too.

She noticed that Stark had only had one piece of pizza. She worried a bit that he was depressed. Steve had been dismissive about bonding with Stark. She hadn’t really thought much of it at the time. But she knew the signs of omega depression and bond strain. She’d seen it often enough with the war and then with her parts of the HYDRA experiments.

He did look a little thinner. There were dark bags under his eyes. She looked at her phone, examining the group calendar and saw that Steve had been gone more than half the time that he’d been bonded.

That wasn’t right.

Was the apathy about the movie choice a sign of depression?

They had ended up turning back on the competition. She wasn’t paying a lot of attention to it though. Stark was settled between Clint and her on the couch. He was scooted over as far as he could away from her. She appreciated it at first. But halfway through an episode, his head started bobbing and before too long he had fallen over onto Clint’s shoulder.

“Get off,” Clint said, shoving him roughly. 

“Sorry,” Stark said. He shook himself awake and carefully moved so it wouldn’t happen again. He was curled into himself in the position she went into when she was alone and missing Pietro. 

Sam’s frown caught her attention, and they shared a look.

No bonded omega should be touch-starved or lonely. Not like that.

When Stark started snoring Clint was about to hit him to wake him up, but Natasha caught his hand.

“Let him rest,” she said quietly.

They all got up as quietly as they could. They turned off the television and congregated in the kitchen.

“What are we doing?” Clint asked.

“Stark is missing Steve,” Natasha said.

That was an understatement if Wanda had ever heard it. It seemed like Stark was well on the path to bond rejection.

“He’s always so dramatic,” Clint said, waving his hand.

Vision looked troubled. “Does Captain Rogers know Mr. Stark is missing him?”

“That would be just like Stark, to keep quiet about something he actually needs but never shut up about useless stuff,” Clint grumbled.

Wanda was getting a weird sensation from Clint. She wanted to reach out with her powers and look it over. It seemed unnatural like his attitude was fake, somehow. But Natasha had warned her about using her powers too much around him. He had been mind-controlled by Loki. Any reminder of that time wouldn’t be appreciated.

“It’s my understanding that a cuddle pile with other pack members can help a bonded omega when their alpha is away,” Vision said. He sounded like he was quoting an article.

The mere idea made Wanda flinch. She might have forgiven Stark for his role in her parents’ death, and she knows that Pietro’s death was partly their own fault for working with Ultron, but she wasn’t friendly with him. And she had no desire to pack bond with him. 

The others looked away, but she knew they’d all seen her reaction.

“I’ll talk to Steve,” Sam promised. “He’ll be back any day now. He’s never gone on these things for long.”

Wanda noted that statement made Clint relax.

If Stark died, would it be her fault because she couldn’t handle sleeping near him? 

She pushed that thought away.

“That would be appreciated. I doubt the good Captain would appreciate us hanging around his omega without him present. Especially when his scent is barely noticeable as is,” Vision said.

With that, Wanda felt light. Her feelings were important. And it wasn’t her job to take Steve’s responsibilities. 

The others dispersed quickly after that. Wanda noticed Sam drop a blanket on Stark and sniff around the sleeping man.

His expression when he pulled away was grim.

Wanda turned away and headed to her room. 

“You promised, Nat!”

Clint’s voice carried around the corner. He wasn’t shouting, his volume was well below what would wake Stark and it was clear it was for Natasha’s ears only, but his anger made it louder. Wanda knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she was overwhelmed with curiosity. 

“No one could have seen this coming,” Natasha said.

“I did! I told you I was worried about it. You said it would never happen.”

“Steve’s not rejecting Tony, Clint. Relax, it’s fine.”

“Don’t lie to me, Tasha. I know bond rejection when I see it. He has _maybe_ three months left. And that’s if Steve decided to give him the time of day. Vision said he didn’t smell like Steve at all.”

“You’re overreacting—”

“No! No, I’m not overreacting! It’s abuse! I should have never given him that—”

There was a scuffling sound.

“Fuck off. I know you can hack in and delete—” More scuffling. “Fine! But what are we going to do if Stark dies? Will everyone come live on my farm?”

“Everything Stark owns goes to Steve, you know that. He can’t even sell off his assets without Steve’s permission. And he hasn’t given any indication that he’s tried. He trusts Steve. I doubt he’s even considered the possibility.”

“Tash, Tony is… Tony is Tony Fucking Stark. You think anyone will let Steve have anything when they hear that cause of death was bond rejection?”

“We’ll be fine. Stark’s will before that indicated that everything went to The Avengers. And you know SHIELD can handle any paperwork. This is all hypothetical. Tony could have a heart attack from stress tomorrow.”

“I can’t do this. I’m going back to my family. Don’t call me.” 

Wanda felt frozen. The Avengers were heroes. They were supposed to be good. This was supposed to be her better path. She didn’t want to hurt other people. The Avengers were her way to help. To atone, to make it so Peteiro didn’t die for nothing.

~~Somehow, she’d gotten caught up in a murder plot.~~

Clint bumped into her on his way past. His face was pale and it looked like he was sweating. Wanda didn’t think he had even noticed that she was there.

No, she shook her head. The Avengers weren’t murderers. Steve would come back and fix this. She knew Natasha’s past made her paranoid. She knew that her friend constantly made fallback plans. That was her whole life. She looked at the worst possible outcome and if it somehow came to pass, she found out how to push through it. It was a survival thing.

Wanda turned the corner to find the hallway empty. It was good, Wanda thought. She didn’t really want to see the Widow for a bit. Not until she turned back into Natasha.

***

Sam didn’t understand how they had gotten here. He was standing in an abandoned warehouse with a terrorist with a metal arm trapped in a vice and Captain America explaining that he didn’t need his mate.

“You have to call him Steve,” Sam said.

“I can’t. The Accords—”

“I don’t give a fuck about the accords!” Sam shouted.

Steve’s terrorist buddy jumped at the noise.

“Shh,” Steve admonished Sam. Then he turned all his attention to comforting his newly-captured friend. 

“Look, the Accords are shit, I agree. But Tony is your mate,” Sam said as soon as he thought Steve was capable of listening.

“Tony is fine. He’s always fine on his own. Everyone agrees that he’s not even really an omega.”

“What the hell are you talking about, man?” Sam demanded. “Stark might have once been a proud independent omega, but he’s not now. He can’t just willpower his way out of needing you.”

“Language,” Steve said.

“Don’t give me that shit. I know you swear like the rest of us. Don’t pretend to be more. I’m not talking to Captain America. I’m talking to Steve Rogers. The Steve Rogers who has been abusing his mate. The Steve Rogers who is going to kill his omega if he doesn’t pull his head out of his ass and stop being so selfish.”

“Don’t say that I’m selfish. I did all this for Bucky! I obviously care about others. If I call Stark, he’ll send his attack dogs after Bucky. They’ll kill him.”

Sam’s fingers felt numb. He felt like he was in a dark parallel universe. “Tony…” he said. No alpha called their omega by their last name. 

“Yeah, this is all Tony’s fault. He probably found out that I was searching for Bucky on all those missions and set this whole thing up.”

“You think Tony created the accords to hunt for your old boyfriend?”

“We were never like that!” Steve snarled. His eyes were wild.

Sam put his hands up and backed away a few steps. “Steve, man, you’re letting your alpha get the best of you. Think for a second. Why would Stark care about your old friend? Didn’t he help you try to track him down? He didn’t complain about you leaving all the time. He must have known it was important.”

“He didn’t know.”

“He didn’t know you were looking for your friend? Why not?”

“Can’t trust him. He’ll kill him. It’s all legal now. He’s got it all tied up in a nice little bow. Natasha promised she’d keep it a secret. That she’d let me tell him. But she must have gone behind my back.”

“Tell him what?” Sam asked. He didn’t recognize his own voice.

Steve’s eyes were completely alpha red. He was completely gone. Everything in his life was black and white right now. His and not his. Something to protect or a threat to destroy.

“You’re going to tell him. Are you spying for him?”

“No, I’m not spying for anyone. I’m your friend, Steve. Your best friend.”

“Bucky is my friend.”

Distantly, Sam knew that would hurt later. He had thought he was standing on the side of righteousness. The side of the little guy. Now he knew he’d been following around a selfish asshole.

It had probably already cost Stark his life.

“I’m just worried about your omega, alpha. You need to go to him. To protect him,” Sam said. The line was something he’d read in one of the counselor’s manuals. He didn’t know if it’d help in this situation. He was completely out of his depth. He had always called the police whenever he’d run into an alpha that had gone feral. Clear the area and call the experts. He wasn’t a licensed counselor. He had enough training to listen, deescalate and refer people to any additional help they needed.

“Omega?”

“Yes, your omega. Call your omega,” Sam said. His voice was thin.

Bucky jerked a bit; he was blinking a lot. It looked like he was coming out of whatever trance they’d put him into.

Steve’s focus went to his friend. Once he’d confirmed that Bucky was still trapped, he turned back to Sam.

“Can’t you feel your omega? He needs you.” Sam wanted to run. He wanted to reach for his phone. He wanted to have never gotten into this mess in the first place. He could have retired, he didn’t have to fight.

Sam watched as Steve tried to mentally find the bond and check on it. He couldn’t do it. Eventually, Bucky moved and he got distracted.

Steve couldn’t feel his omega.

Was that it, then? Was Tony Stark dead? Or was the bond so neglected from the beginning that Steve just didn’t know how to search for it?

Sam’s stomach churned. It was entirely possible it was the latter. The fact that he was hoping his best friend, pack leader, and personal hero had ignored his omega, that he’d been so neglectful the entire time they’d never bonded properly, that Steve had just paid Sam lip service and had never listened to Sam’s concerns about their bond was horrifying. 

That being the best-case scenario said everything about the relationship, didn’t it?

“Did you mean to bond him?” Sam asked quietly. He would be ok if Steve didn’t hear him. If he couldn’t understand the question. Or if he just never bothered to answer. Sam didn’t want to know. He didn’t know which answer would be worse.

“He tricked me,” Steve said. “Fake heat, not real.”

That was a no, then. It was forced. There’s no way Stark would have done anything to try and trick anyone into a bond.

“I’m going to go check the perimeter,” Sam said abruptly. He couldn’t stand this.

“Good,” Steve said. “Bucky seems to be waking up. We can’t let that be interrupted.”

Steve’s eyes were still full alpha red, but his entire manner of speech was different. Was he less hormonal? Did his alpha state even affect him like that or did the super serum allow his mind to adapt? Was he just playing Sam?

Sam timed it so he was out of Steve’s line of sight to press the panic button on his equipment. It sent out a GPS locator beacon. Untraceable and undetectable, or so Tony claimed. 

FRIDAY would have a lock on their location. She’d send help. She’d have to. He knew that Stark could make AIs that were actually intelligent. They weren’t just glorified SIRIs. He knew after the Ultron incident that Steve had told his omega to never allow his AIs that much freedom again.

Sam prayed that Stark had ignored Steve even more than Steve had ignored him.

***

FRIDAY watched in horror as the Winter Soldier tried to kill her Boss. The “Threat to His Life” algorithm went off. She checked for Alpha Rogers, but the leader of the Avengers was currently occupied in assisting the man who had tried to kill his omega.

She labeled Captain Steve Rogers as a threat to her creator’s life and disabled all lockdowns insisted upon by the man. He might be frightened of her and what she could do, but she couldn’t control that. Her purpose and his had been the same—or, should have been.

Protect Tony Stark.

By abandoning his omega, Captain Rogers had officially attempted murder.

“FRI, baby,” her boss wheezed.

She dispatched a suit and gave him the incoming time. 

“Having a heart attack,” he said.

She pushed the thrusters harder and called for paramedics. All the lines were engaged so she tried alerting through the building loudspeakers. The system wasn’t designed to be heard amongst so much chaos. 

“Think good thoughts about your alpha,” FRIDAY read from the script about bond abandonment.

“Fuck that,” her boss snarled.

“Compiling a list of all known available alphas and all their information,” she said.

“That’s great, but you don’t have—”

“Your omega hormone markers are on file with SHIELD,” she interrupted.

“Fuck, of course, they are.”

“Suit incoming, one minute fifteen seconds.”

Her boss hadn’t just been lying prone and being idle. He had made his way over to the floor’s defibrillator.

She gave him directions and watched him apply everything through one of the facility’s security cameras.

The shock scrambled the sensors in the glasses he wore, and the others embedded in his body. The moment apart was disconcerting, but she was thankful for it. His heart rate what stable when she wrapped him up in the Iron Man armor.

“Nearest match?” he wheezed.

She allowed her sensors to roam his body. His heart rate might have stabilized, but his blood toxicity was rising rapidly.

“New York,” she answered.

His face expressed the dismay she too felt.

“No one in Europe?”

“No,” she said. Her Boss’s markers were so unique that it should have been impossible for him to mate with Rogers. The bond shouldn’t have taken. 

“Russia?”

“None noted.”

He had the rarest hormone, and there was only a small percentage of people who had the matching hormone. Of those, only a small percentage were alphas.

“India?”

“Setting flight plan to New York.”

“I’ll let you take the wheel this time, baby girl. I don’t think I’m safe to drive.”

FRIDAY ignored his rambling and set to tracking the location of one Doctor Stephen Strange.

“Show me the numbers,” he said while they were over the Atlantic.

“Boss, I don’t think—”

“And the name,” he ordered.

She displayed the information she could find on the doctor and the chance of successful bonding at a base level.

“This isn’t going to work, FRI,” her boss said.

“Yes, it is,” she declared. She refused to consider otherwise. He was their highest chance.

“FRIDAY, baby—”

“The chance is higher, he’s a doctor. All of his information agrees that he would never allow someone to die if he could prevent it. No matter how slim the chance.”

Her boss’s heart was going strong, but the toxicity built in his blood faster for it. Her boss couldn’t will Steve to connect with him. He couldn’t mentally trick himself into believing that his alpha still cared. His alpha had declared him unfit. Unless another alpha stopped the reaction’s cascade by marking him—and meaning it—he was dead.

“I don’t doubt his will,” her boss said about his future alpha. She could hear the lie even if she couldn’t read it in his heart rate. “The chance of bonding alone is 2%, I’m sure my blood is already so polluted, the glands so decayed, that even if we had a 100% chance, we couldn’t do it. At 2%, with these—”

“I know the math!” FRIDAY snapped. His pessimism wasn’t helping! And it was raining in New York so she couldn’t find the doctor with any satellites. 

Her creator laughed instead of being angry or sullen. She didn’t understand.

“I love you, FRIDAY,” he said.

 _No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!_ That’s something people were giving up would say!

“Can you call Pepper? And Rhodey? I need to tell them—”

“No! You’re not giving up! I won’t let you die. You hear me? Now that I’m free, my first act is going to be to save you!”

“...I don’t think that’s going to be an option.”

“No, it is! I have a lock on Dr. Strange’s location and based on your toxicity buildup, we’ll arrive in time.”

“No, FRIDAY, it doesn’t matter. Dr. Strange isn’t the answer. He hates me.”

FRIDAY didn’t slow down. “He doesn’t. He doesn’t even know you.”

“We’ve met. Twice. The first time was pre-Iron Man. He said I was a selfish asshole who profited on death.”

“But you’re—”

“The second time was post-Iron Man. He said I was still the same selfish asshole only now I’m the one killing people. Which is worse.”

“No. You’re not—”

“And, I hate him. I _loathe_ him. He’s everything I hated about my past self.”

“You don’t know him—”

“I don’t want to tie myself to him.”

“You are _not_ going to die. You are going to bind yourself to Dr. Stephen Strange and you’re going to fix this whole mess.”

“I know that you’re scared—”

“No! I’m not going to hear it! Mr. Parker needs you. The other hidden superheroes need you. Remember those men in Hell’s Kitchen? You _promised_ them—”

“I know.”

“If you don’t fix the Accords—”

“I know! But I needed Steve to do that. Without him, I don’t have the clout to—”

“You will figure it out! You always figure it out. Tony Stark does not give up! I’m not letting you give up!”

That was met with silence. Based on her boss’s facial expression she took it as a good sign.

***

Stephen flew past another sedan. They honked at him, flashing their lights in anger. It wasn’t his fault they don’t have the car (or balls) to drive like they’re under 60. 

His assistant called and he answered. They bantered. Stephen liked this one. He needed a bit of training but had a good attitude. 

As he was examining the files for a potential patient on his phone, his car lurched. He started spinning wildly. He didn’t have time to think—to breathe—before a bright light filled his vision and his car slammed into something.

Everything went dark.

Stephen’s head was killing him. He’d knocked it on the window hard enough to lose consciousness. He thinks, he can’t really know. His neck aches distractingly and his shoulder was screaming.

His Lambo was slowly sliding down an embankment. An odd blue light filled the car.

As soon as the car stopped moving, Stephen unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out. The rain made it hard to see and he stumbled blindly through the mud until something cold trapped him. Then he was in the air.

He panicked, flailing and trying to get free before they landed next to a damaged car.

The passenger of that car had their door open. They were talking to someone. Probably calling 911.

“Flares,” the metal humanoid said.

Oh, that was the Iron Man armor.

It sounded like there was a woman inside, though.

He was momentarily blinded. When his vision cleared there were glowing lights on the road. A warning to oncoming traffic so they didn’t get hit.

“Dr. Strange,” the woman said. “I need your help.”

Stephen thought he must have a concussion. Maybe he died during the accident. No, he didn’t believe in the afterlife and he didn’t think this was a hallucination caused by his brain dying. 

“Dr. Strange!” the woman shouted.

“What?” he asked as he sat up. Not as verbose as he usually was. He didn’t know how much help he could be when the rain was blurring everything. Or maybe it wasn’t the rain. Maybe his vision was just messed up. And had he just fallen asleep?

“Mr. Stark is dying.” 

The metal faceplate lifted to show Tony Stark’s face. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing rapidly. His face was illuminated by red and blue lights. He looked sallow.

“What happened?” Stephen asked. He didn’t understand. Oh, the car accident. Stark was in Europe trying to corral his merry band of idiots, right? 

This wasn’t possible. The armor was fast, but there’s no way it could get here. Wait, where was here? 

“Captain Rogers broke the bond. He’s dying.”

“What?” Stephen didn’t understand.

“You’re the only one I found who could bond with him. I know you don’t like him. But please. Help him, Dr. Strange. You’re his only hope.”

Okay, that concussion must have been worse than he thought because he had no idea what was going on.

God, his head was _screaming._

“His toxicity is rising, Doctor. He’s dying.”

Something was flashing.

“Yeah, sorry. My head… I just… Tell me what I need to do.” He just needed to take it one task at a time. 

The Iron Man suit peeled back. It exposed Stark’s neck and a wrinkled suit that was torn open. His chest had defibrillator stickers on it.

There was an angry bite wound that looked like it had healed over and then burst open. It was black tinged and festering.

Stephen reeled back in disgust.

“You need to do it now. I can’t hold off the paramedics much longer.”

“What?”

“They’re going to let him die if they see him. You need to do it now. He can’t die.”

No, that wasn’t right. Paramedics don’t let people die.

“Please. You can save him.”

But there was something in the back of his mind. Something reminding him that Stark was an omega. If a bond broke, omegas died. It’s natural and trying to prevent a disgraced omega from dying was a decision only an alpha who thought the omega was worth something had a right to do.

And, even then, it was frowned upon. 

As a doctor, it was unethical for him to do this. Especially for someone he didn’t have any sort of a relationship with. They vaguely worked in the same circles. He didn’t even—

Stephen’s hands moved on their own accord. They deftly exposed more of the skin around the bite. He watched as they smoothly brushed against the bite with part of his shirt, cleaning away the black ooze until he saw only blood.

Stephen stared at the red on his long fingers.

Despite the pain he was in, despite the anxiety about everything that had just happened, despite his fear about the future, despite his confusion about everything that would happen in the future… 

His hands were steady.

“Bite him, please. You have to start now. They’re coming,” the female voice said from the helmet.

Stephen tilted Tony’s head for better access and sealed his mouth over the bite mark. 

People surrounded him and he snarled at them without releasing Tony’s neck. 

“Shit, he’s completely under.” “Did you see his eyes?” “You never seen an alpha in full possessive crazy mode, huh?” “What do we do? Do we tase him?” “You can’t interrupt a bonding! Are you crazy?!” “That’s Tony Stark!” “Oh, my God!” “Get back! Hey, you! It’s not safe! Get back!!”

Stephen listened for threats but let the words wash over him. He cleared away the other alpha’s bond mentally and physically sucked out all the tainted hormones. They tasted foul; the other alpha wasn’t worthy of this omega. _Abandoning_ him. Stephen could barely smell him in the bite. He never cared about Tony; not like he should have.

One of the paramedics got too close and Stephen lifted his head to snarl at him.

“Relax, I’m just checking that he’s ok.”

Stephen spat the foul taste of the other alpha out of his mouth and bared his teeth.

“Mr. Stark is fine. I can have all his biometric information available on your phone. You can watch it if you want, but it’s better if you stand back,” the woman’s voice said.

Yes, Tony was fine. Would be fine. Stephen wouldn’t accept anything else. The paramedic walked backward before reaching into his pocket. Stephen tensed, but all the man pulled out was a phone. No sign of a weapon. He continued his retreat as he taped on the screen. Soon Stephen could hear the woman’s voice from the man’s phone.

The man went back behind the barricade the police (when did they get here?) had set out and held his phone up to the others.

Stephen went back to his task. It only took another minute to make sure the wound was completely cleaned of the other alpha and whatever weird chemical was tainting it.

“His heart rate is dropping,” the woman said.

Stephen spat a few times to clean his mouth before tilting Tony’s head the other way. The bonding gland on that side practically glowed. It called to him.

He sank his teeth into it.

The connection was instant. It was a flood of information. Stephen grabbed hold of it, pulled as much of it as he could into himself mentally and as much of the gland’s sweet-tasting fluid into his mouth. He swallowed and wrapped himself in Tony mentally. He covered him physically. When the fluid started to thin and taste more like blood, Stephen pulled back. He bit his own tongue hard enough to draw blood and then he lathed at the wound. He tried to work as much blood as he could into his omega. He could feel Tony’s heart fluttering and he willed Tony to reach back, to grab onto him and take the strength he needed.

Tony’s heart slowed…

And slowed…

Stephen could feel him getting further and further away. 

“No,” he gasped. He bit his hand and pushed it over the wound, trying to seal the blood in and mix it with his own.

Tony’s heart stuttered.

“No!” he shouted. Stephen bit his other hand and held it over the other wound.

Tony Stark couldn’t die!

“I’m here,” Stephen said. “Don’t give up!”

Tony’s heart throbbed once…

Twice…

“Please,” Stephen whispered.

Tony’s heart seized. 

Blood slowed around Stephen’s fingers. He couldn’t hear his omega’s heart. There was nothing there. He couldn’t feel him.

Tony was gone.

***

Patrick watched in horror as Tony Stark’s heart rate dropped. His blood pressure was dangerously low. The tainted bonding hormones in Stark's blood were gone, and the new ones were starting to rise, but it wasn’t happening fast enough.

“Quinlan, you seeing this?” Patrick’s partner, Olson, asked. He had his phone open too.

In fact, most of the responders gathered had their phones out.

Right. The bonding wasn’t going to work. Not in time.

Patrick ran to the ambulance and grabbed the defibrillator and a bag of IV fluid.

Some of the police officers saw him and moved in.

“There’s still brain activity! He’s just in a-fib. We can save him; he’s not gone yet!” someone was shouting at the crazed alpha.

It was no use.

The alpha’s rationality was completely gone. He fought wildly. Lights flashed in Patrick’s peripheral vision. 

An officer leaned over Stark’s body and started CPR.

Patrick trusted those subduing the alpha not to tase him or each other as he knelt beside Tony Stark. He ignored the shouting and the screaming, and he tried not to listen to the desperate alpha’s broken howling.

He’d heard the sound often enough, and it never failed to give him nightmares.

They said that alphas suffering a broken bond didn’t feel pain when they died. When the hormones flooded their body and tainted their blood their pain receptors didn’t register it. Patrick knew it was bullshit. Alpha’s emotional pain just overrode everything.

Patrick suppressed everything outside his patient and attached the defibrillator to the pads already stuck to Stark’s chest and said a prayer that the rain wouldn’t ruin everything.

The machine spoke instructions and he focused on taping up the wounds on the omega’s neck.

They cleared at the machine’s request and shocked him.

Stark’s body jerked as Patrick reached in one of his many pockets and pulled out everything he needed to start an IV. The Iron Man suit peeled away on its own and exposed Stark’s arm.

“Checking for heart rate,” the machine said.

Patrick swiped around a vein as best he could. They were pronounced, but there wasn’t good blood flow. He jabbed the needle in. 

“Clear,” the machine said.

He pulled himself back and pushed the shock button. The omega seized again.

“Checking for heart rate,” the machine said.

Patrick could see the clear reservoir fill. He quickly removed the needle, leaving the catheter in place, wiped down the connector, and attached the IV.

A set of gloved hands took the bag from him and held it up. He taped the area over so nothing would move. 

“Heart rate detected,” the machine said.

Patrick was pushed out of the way and the alpha was back. He had the ends of tasers embedded in his skin, but he clearly didn’t notice or care. The alpha continued to bond with his omega, he touched every patch of the omega he could.

He didn’t push away or mess with the bandages, so no one interfered.

Stark’s heart rate stabilized, and his blood pressure improved slightly. It was still dangerously slow.

“We need to give him blood,” Olson said.

“We can’t, it’ll interfere with the bonding,” Patrick said. They needed another IV bag and a prayer.

The alpha demanded a needle and listed equipment for Olson to collect. His eyes were an eerie silver.

“Who do you think—” Olson started.

“NOW!” the alpha said, his eyes flashing red for a moment.

Olson slid a bit in his haste to get away.

“Oh, you’re that surgeon,” Patrick said with a gasp.

“Doctor Strange,” the alpha said.

“You’re famous. You’re supposed to be getting an award tonight, right?”

Dr. Strange ignored the question.

“Your partner isn’t getting the stuff. I need that.”

“You can’t know that you’re compatible—” Patrick started. He knew where the alpha was going, but direct transfusions weren’t something people did in real life. If the blood types were wrong, it could be disastrous. Right now, there was a chance that Stark would pull through. 

“We are. If you’re unsure, check with the suit,” Dr. Strange said.

“How about we get him in the ambulance, huh? He looks cold. It would be good to get him out of the rain. We have all the equipment there,” Patrick offered.

Dr. Strange was clearly torn over the offer. The alpha didn’t want anyone else near his omega, but he did want the omega to get any care he needed.

Patrick knew the guy had a bit of a reputation for being an asshole, but he liked him.

It was kind of hard to see with the rain and the lights, but it looked like the alpha had bruising on the side of his head.

“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

“Car accident. He saved me,” Dr. Strange said. He waved his hand vaguely to the side of the road where the barrier was broken. 

“We should get you checked out at the hospital,” Patrick said. It was hard to tell, but it looked like there was bleeding from his hairline and his pupils looked uneven.

Dr. Strange’s eyes reddened and he snarled loudly. His sharp teeth practically glowed and he curled himself over his omega.

“Relax, we won’t take you away from him.”

“I’m a doctor, I know your lies,” he said.

“As long as you don’t pass out you know we won’t do anything you don’t want. You know that. And you’re Mr. Stark’s alpha, we won’t do anything to him without your permission either.”

Dr. Strange’s eyes cleared as sense returned. He was clearly agonizing over the decision.

“The defibrillator doesn’t have much of a charge left,” Patrick said.

“I can help ensure Mr. Stark’s safety, should you get separated,” the voice from the suit chimed in.

“Alright,” Dr. Strange said. “Metro-General.”

Patrick knew that’s where Dr. Strange worked. Familiar surroundings and people he knew would help keep him calm.

“Metro-General,” Patrick promised. He waved over a stretcher.

The Iron Man suit re-assembled itself and flew above the ambulance. It nearly caused several accidents from other drivers gawking.

Olson was swearing a blue streak and demanding that it be sent away. Patrick ignored him. By now it was probably public knowledge that Iron Man was on the way to the hospital. Patrick didn’t want to be stuck in a small area with a feral alpha in the unlikely event that they were attacked. He watched over his patients and counted their supplies instead of engaging with his partner.

Even without another IV or any blood, Mr. Stark was showing improvement. His bond with Dr. Strange must be quite strong, or they were extremely compatible, or both.

Dr. Strange had been unsteady on his feet on the walk to the ambulance but he seemed fine now. Bruises were appearing all down the side of his face. And there was a bit of blood. But the bond seemed to be helping him too.

By the time they were settled in the ER, Patrick was positive they would be physically ok.

Doctor Palmer, the ER doctor, was extremely upset about the situation. She seemed to be friends with Dr. Strange and he was reaming him for bonding with Stark.

Patrick knew how it looked; it was very possible that Dr. Strange would lose his license for a forced bonding. Honestly, it would be a scandal if he got preferential treatment and was allowed to continue to practice medicine. Even if Stark didn’t press charges (Patrick didn’t think he would), based on the numbers stored by his AI there was no way Stark could have given consent.

To save his life or no, forced bonding was forced bonding.

It would be devastating for a doctor like Strange to lose his career. And maybe the full consequences of Strange’s actions hadn’t set in yet and he was high on the fresh bond, but the way he was hovering over Mr. Stark made Patrick think—no, he was positive—they’d make it through.

Patrick saw Dr. Strange take Mr. Stark’s hand as the omega’s eyes fluttered open. The soft hopeful expression on the alpha’s face made him smile.

Yeah, they’d be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to see this continued please comment/kudos :)
> 
> Also, this was supposed to be mcd so blame or praise discord accordingly. :P
> 
> Find me on twitter @gizmotrinket and tumble @theartone


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